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Sunday, March 29, 2009

Communion and Covenants

During the sacrament today, Brandi leaned into me and asked, "Mom, why does the prayer say wine when we use water?" I quickly and quietly explained that when Jesus gave us the sacrament, they did use wine, just not the kind of wine we think of when we think wine. I then told her that it would be ok to use juice or other drinkable liquids if that was all that was available because in the end the covenant we are making is more important than what is in the cup.

This thought has been rumbling around in my mind for the last while. I have been feeling that the concept has deeper meaning and is more important than we as mortals can understand.

Since I was still in meetings and my scriptures were all I had available, I turned to the Bible Dictionary:

Covenant- Sometimes denotes an agreement between persons or nations; more often between God and man; but in this latter case it is important to notice that the two parties to the agreement do not stand in the relation of independent and equal contractors. God in his good pleasure fixes the terms, which man accepts. The same word is sometimes rendered “testament.”The gospel is so arranged that principles and ordinances are received by covenant placing the recipient under strong obligation and responsibility to honor the commitment.

God fixes the terms and we either accept them or not. Again, it seems pretty simple. Take the covenants we make at baptism and renew when we take the sacrament:

Take upon us the name of the Savior

Always Remember Him

Keep His commandments

And He promises that we will always have His spirit to be with us.

I, for one, am thankful that I have the opportunity each and every week to have a do over, to be able to remake the covenant and try again because somehow, someway I can guarantee that I am going to fall short on one or all of those three things.

On another note, this song has always been one of my favorite balm and solace to my soul.